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And be as the he-goats before the flocks.

⁹For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the north country;

And they shall set themselves in array against her,

From thence she shall be taken;

Their arrows shall be as of a mighty man that maketh childless;

None shall return in vain.

¹⁰And Chaldea shall be a spoil;

All that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.

¹¹Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice,

O ye that plunder My heritage,

Because ye gambol as a heifer at grass,

And neigh as strong horses;

¹²Your mother shall be sore ashamed,

She that bore you shall be confounded;

Behold, the hindermost of the nations

Shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited,

But it shall be wholly desolate;

Every one that goeth by Babylon

Shall be appalled and hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about,

All ye that bend the bow,

Shoot at her, spare no arrows;

For she hath sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵Shout against her round about, she hath submitted herself;

Her buttresses are fallen, her walls are thrown down;

For it is the vengeance of the Lord, take vengeance upon her;

As she hath done, do unto her.

¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest;

For fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people,

And they shall flee every one to his own land.

 

¹⁷Israel is a scattered sheep,

The lions have driven him away;

First the king of Assyria hath devoured him,

And last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

¹⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,

As I have punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹And I will bring Israel back to his pasture,

And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan,

And his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

²⁰In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord,

The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none,

And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found;

For I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.

 

²¹Go up against the land of ^[1]Merathaim, even against it,

And against the inhabitants of ^[2]Pekod;

Waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the Lord,

And do according to all that I have commanded thee.

²²Hark! battle is in the land,

And great destruction.

1. That is, Double rebellion.
2. That is, Visitation.

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